The Catastrophic College Football Coalition
by Novelist Pup
Summary: what do you call a romantically involved vampire and werewolf that try out for the same football team in college after high school? an awkward mess. a six part high school to college romance, featuring monsters. fang/lightning au. (sequel to The Absolute Athletic Admiration Society)


**The Catastrophic College Football Coalition  
(a six part high school to college romance, featuring monsters)**

i made a college-focused sequel because i have too many ideas and school doesn't start for like a week and a half for me so

mo' monsters, mo' problems

mo' football

(thanks a ton for the support of anyone who read _The Absolute Athletic Admiration Society_ and you would definitely want to read that one first if u haven't before you even look at this lmfao because some things might actually not make any sense elsewise lol this is a definite direct sequel buddy)

**Disclaimed.**

* * *

_I ._

Fang was a simple kind of girl, she always thought throughout her life.

She had basic likes and interests, such as association football, food, working out, action films, violent murder by moonlight, fashion, sports television, and more little things in that realm. She did pretty well in terms of school when the subject was interesting, like Gym or Literature or even Human Studies (the class was great for learning the weaknesses and hangout spots of the creatures, and really gave her a head start in life), and was in the end of her senior year at Taejin High School—home of the notorious Taejin Tower—with a solid three point one GPA.

"But…what do you want to do after high school?" her football coach and high school spirit guide Sazh Katzroy asked carefully, his dark eyes fixed on the yawning teenager slumped in the seat in front of his desk. "Yun, I get you're a pretty girl athlete werewolf thing-or-whatever-y'all're-callin'-yourselves, but you graduate high school in three months and you haven't applied to any college but…the University of Cool?" He squinted his eyes at Fang's advisement sheet, clearly unable to tell if he was reading that right.

Fang grinned. "I wanna major in Bein' Rad," she explained. "An' graduate Magna _Cool_ Laude." Ah, she wished Vanille were here with her to share a high-five for that particular gem.

"Goddamnit—okay," Katzroy placed his face in his hands and sighed. "Okay. You clearly think this is a game, Yun, and I get that." He looked up at her with a small smile. "I get that you're still in the whole 'being a teenager is super cool and rad' phase, especially now where you have near to no responsibilities and your dad does all the huntin' for you and him, right?"

"Nah, I hunt mostly now," Fang shrugged. "He's got this new job out on the Terra sniffin' out human hunters, so it's really up to me to keep the 'fridge packed with meat."

"Damn it Yun, you know where I was going with this," Katzroy mumbled, his head back in his hands. "Nobody expects much from you right now since you're only, what, eighteen? But what about later?" He sighed, leaning back in his seat. "You'll probably want a job, Fang. And I'm only tellin' you this because I care about you, and I want you to succeed."

Fang frowned a little. "Aw, I'm sorry Coach," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was just joshin' ya, mate. I mean, I—" and she paused, furrowing her brow. "Ah, no, it's silly. Nevermind."

Katzroy blinked. "What's silly?" he asked. "Tell me what's on your mind, Wolfie."

"Nah, it's real embarrasin', so I'd rather not," the werewolf said with a tense smile. "Howeva', if we're done here, it's raw steak day in the commons, so…"

"We ain't done until you tell me what's up, Yun," the black man said sternly. He crossed his arms. "Now, spill, kid. I can sit here all day and night, girlie."

Fang narrowed her eyes. "Ya can't make me do anythin' I don't want to," she muttered, placing her tanned hands against the chair's arms. She made the motion to get up, and Katzroy shook his head with a hearty chuckle.

"Oh, but," he reached into his top drawer in his desk, and Fang froze. "I think I can." He placed a small straw doll on the desk. It was no bigger than his open hand, with brown fabric working as skin and long dark-brown string dipped in red for hair. It had a silly grin for a face, and when Katzroy moved the legs, Fang moved with it.

"Aw, fuck, god_dammit_ Coach!" Fang cursed as she was forcibly made to plop back in her seat. Katzroy smirked, and she subtly sent the man a quick flash of her middle finger. "You sneaky witchdoctor, I knew this would happen. _Ugh_, I can't believe I gave you a piece of my hair without askin' why, good evil Anima!"

The witchdoctor slash football coach shrugged. "Don't trust anybody," he replied. "Now, where were we—oh, right, _talkin' about your future._ Tell me what's goin' on with you, Yun."

Fang grumbled and muttered and cursed the man to a thousand graves, but eventually she let out a huge burst of air and ran her long fingers through her dark hair. "I, uh, I've been thinkin'," she muttered. "About…goin' to…university."

Katzroy looked surprised; Fang braced herself for the imminent laughter.

"What's so bad about that?" he asked, and she nearly gaped.

"W-what's so bad? Coach, look at me!" Fang gestured at herself and her coach seemed contemplative.

"Well, what's wrong with you?" Katzroy replied, cocking an eyebrow. "Because all I see is a good-natured young adult werewolf with a lot of potential to be anything."

Fang grimaced. "Okay, please, quit with the whole 'Follow Your Dreams You're Beautiful Just the Way You Are' spiel," she requested sincerely. Her demeanor returned to the slight panic she'd felt a minute ago. "And, what's so bad about me goin' to university is that it's _dumb_, mate." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "We're in Gran Pulse—I'm a full werewolf born an' raised from Oerba! And, we're in Taejin right now, coach. Nobody really expects any of us to go to college after high school outside of, what, Yachas Community? University is for, I dunno, uppity Cocoon arseholes, like the specters an' warlocks an', like, frankenmonsters, an' cambions an'—"

"And Lightning, by any chance?" Katzroy guessed, and Fang winced. "That's what I thought. Fang, I don't know where the hell you heard that university wasn't for kids like you, but they were damn wrong. Anybody can go further in their education; it doesn't matter where they were born."

The teenager stared at him for a long while, her arms hanging limply at her sides. "Ya really think?" she asked quietly.

Katzroy scoffed. "I don't think _anything_, I _know_," he replied, and Fang found a smile peeking from her lips.

"But," she asked before she could think about any further future plans. "What would I _do _for four years?"

"Well, there are a lot of different majors," he drawled, smirking. "There's Satanic Literature, Shapeshifter Studies, Blood-Based Design, Phantom Sports Management, Fine Art, and many, _many_ more. And, if nothing else—you can always do football."

"I can do football," Fang agreed, nodding. Her eyes widened. "Hey, maybe I _can_ do this—coach, follow your dreams, you're beautiful just the way you are!" She winked at the man and he rolled his eyes.

He checked his calendar. "Well, most schools' application deadline comes in about a week, so," he turned back to Fang with a smile. "Maybe you should see where Lightning's going?"

Fang was already at the door with her phone out, smirking widely. "I'm already on it—thanks coach!" and she was wandering down the school hall.

* * *

Lightning had heard rumors recently while she stood by her locker idly checking her Scry-Phone as she waited for Serah to get out of class.

Usually the young woman gave no cares what-so-ever about whatever her classmates were bumbling on their asses about now, but this time it was related to her, apparently.

"She's gotten a little nicer," a ghoul was telling her grim friend, who tried to subtly look at the pink-haired girl but Lightning caught his eyes with a hard stare before anything could come of that attempt. "Well, sometimes."

The grim shrugged, shouldering his backpack. "I wonder why," he asked distractedly, and they continued on their way.

Lightning didn't think she was being particularly _nicer_ to anyone at this Etro-forsaken school, but it didn't matter. She graduated in three months anyway, so she could honestly care less.

Her phone buzzed with a new message, and she checked it immediately.

'_FANG ;E,'_ the sender read, and she felt herself relax. She then prepared herself to try and decipher the werewolf's lazy typing quirks that were frequently more annoying than endearing. _'oi lite wat uni r u goin 2 mate' _

"What university am I going to?" Lightning muttered to herself, an eyebrow cocked in question. "Why is she asking _now_?" The werewolf had already laughed off the subject of college when they'd discussed it a couple of weeks ago over blood and pizza, so the pink-haired girl decided to just not push the subject. Of course, deep inside her dark non-existent soul she would've suggested Fang attend school with her, but communication was a lot of things and being her forte was not one of them.

She readied her fingers for the reply, '_I'm attending Palamecia University. Why?_' She sent the message, and waited for Fang's usual quick answering text.

'_FANG ;E_' blinked on her screen again in less than two minutes, and the message read, '_wicked mate ok ur a beaut stay cute girlie :-*_' and she ended the message with that damn kiss emoticon. Lightning felt her heart begin a small trembling beat in order to get her face to heat up, but she tapered it down immediately because blushing was quite possibly the most embarrassing thing the teenager had ever experienced in her life.

'_Why?_' she asked again through text, and as soon as she sent the question, her sister was walking out of class while giggling with her friends about something ridiculous and boy-related, no doubt.

"Claire!" Serah exclaimed as she caught sight of her older sister, and she skipped over to give her a small hug. "What's going on? Why aren't you doing soccer practice—oh, right. That's been over for like three weeks, ha ha."

"Exactly," Lightning replied with a small smirk. "You spend so much time in the bathroom in the evening you probably lost track of time completely."

Serah laughed. "What, like the week of the Wolf CDs—I'm sorry, I'll stop bringing it up!" she squeaked, giggling under her sister's glare. "Also, I don't even spend that much time in the bathroom—kinda hard to do much when you don't have a reflection, Claire."

The plight of being a teenage female vampire, Lightning mused. "True," she conceded, and began walking down the hall towards the school exit. The younger vampire trotted after her, humming the bars to some likely terrible radio hit. It was truly fortunate that, at the very least, Fang had an acceptable taste in music. They'd swapped playlists once, and Lightning was pleased to find that the werewolf was nearly as fond of _Imagine Demons_ as she was.

"Sooo," Serah started, pacing herself at Lightning's side. "What's the news with you and your football werewolf girlfriend?"

Lightning sighed. She expected this, honestly. There wasn't a single day that went by without her little sister asking about Fang and their complicated relationship. "She's not my girlfriend," she said sternly, and frowned when her sister rolled her blue eyes.

"Tell that to your lips," Serah retorted, giggling. "Or did you forget last Sunday when you guys were _kissing_ in your room?"

The older vampire froze, her blue eyes wide. "_Kissing_—is that all you saw?" she hissed, grabbing Serah's shoulders. "And have you told anyone?!"

"Chill out, Coffin Case," Serah grinned. "I _only_ saw you guys kissing, okay. It's cool to kiss your not-girlfriend, Claire—this is a no-judgment zone. I'm telling you, no judgment to be found anywhere, Sis."

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "We weren't kissing," she stated. "Fang…just wanted to know what B type blood tasted like."

"From _your tongue_?"

"It was easier than breaking out an entire pack."

Serah rolled her eyes again with a severely incredulous expression, and Lightning knew she convinced absolutely no one of anything in that moment.

"But," Lightning continued, hands still gripping Serah's white uniform shirt tightly at the shoulders. "Did you _tell_ anyone what you saw?"

Her sister shook her head wildly. "Nobody but Snow," she replied and Lightning could've eaten garlic to put herself out of future misery right there. "And Vanille. And she probably told Hope, so it'll be your best bet to accost him next if you want to keep your '_blood tasting sessions_' a secret."

_What did I do in a past life,_ Lightning thought with closed eyes. _To be cursed with a younger sister._ She loved Serah to the ends of the earth, but having siblings could be _really_ damn trying on a serious teenager like Lightning's patience.

"Aww, it'll be fine," Serah cooed, patting her sister's back. "Snow, for one, is _so glad_ you stopped threatening to make him wear his entrails as a scarf. He says it's way too difficult to get them back inside himself in proper order. Our friends are pretty glad you hang out with Fang a lot—you guys really even each other out."

Lightning scoffed. "Friends?" she repeated. "I don't have friends at this school, Serah."

"Yeah you _do_," Serah replied, walking ahead with her hands gripped behind her back. "You've got Snow! He thinks you are so cool, and he's so happy you guys hang out now. Even if the hanging out is forced." She thought a bit. "You've also got Hope, who looks up to you like crazy. And I know you've spoken to some people outside of football, let alone outside the _school_ with Fang and Vanille. As well," she winked. "You've got _me_."

"You're not my friend," Lightning replied, walking ahead of her gaping sister. She turned around and smirked. "You're a nuisance."

"You love me!" Serah proclaimed, grabbing her older sibling's arm. She grinned up at the taller vampire, and poked her pale cheek. "You love me a _lot_, Claaaaiiirre."

"I do," Lightning admitted, and there was a gentle vibration against her leg. She pulled her phone out her skirt pocket with a frown, and '_FANG :E_' sat on the top of her notifications with two new messages.

'_ahh u will see lite u will see….keep a i on ur mail ;E_,' the first message read, which was mildly worrying in the least, but then the second message was only '_hey did u record that ep of real housewives of palumpolum cuz I missed it and we shud watch it 2gethr ;E :*_'

"What the hell?" Lightning whispered, but then her phone was unceremoniously taken from her hand and she blinked in surprise.

Serah stared at the messages with almost as much confusion as her sister. "Wait, you watch _Real Housewives_?" she demanded. "And you never told me? I love that show! And you've _never_ watched it with _me_!"

"It's irrelevant," Lightning muttered, shifting her blue eyes to the side nervously. The show was her guilty pleasure and main source of social mockery. "Also, give me back my phone."

"Why? Do you have, what, gay vampire to werewolf sexts? With all of Fang's teeth emoticons?" Serah joked, and Lightning was shocked at the very idea that her little fifteen-year-old sister knew what a sext was. The younger vampire proceeded to make up fictionalized sexts because she clearly hated her older sister and was conducting revenge for some awful thing Lightning probably did last week. "'I bite you on the neck and suck up all your blood—winky face,' 'I make sex faces while you suck my blood and then it suddenly becomes the full moon and I become a wolf-thing and then we brawl to the death kissy face'."

Lightning grimaced. "Even if I'm not _that_ knowledgeable in the realm of sexting," she said blandly. "Those did not sound like sexy texts at all. In any capacity."

"Then it's perfect for you," Serah replied, laughing. "You're the least sexy texter I've ever met, Sis."

"God I wish you'd never met Villiers," Lightning whispered, and Serah burst out in fits of high-pitched laughter. Lightning didn't see the joke. She was completely sure _he_ was the reason for everything wrong with her sister, or in her life, or even in the world. Snow Villiers was quite possibly the worst creature to ever exist.

Even if he wasn't that bad anymore, she still needed someone to blame for everything.

Serah was still giggling as they left the school building into the cool night sky, and they began to make their way to their home near the beach from Bodhum Preparatory Academy.

They walked in a comfortable silence for at least ten minutes before the younger vampire touched her sister's thin arm.

"Claire," Serah said, a sad smile on her lips. Her sister looked over at her curiously. "I'm gonna miss you when you go to college."

Lightning blinked, and turned forward with a small lump in her throat. Her little sister may have been the nosiest, most annoying monster on the best of days—but Serah was still Lightning's best friend even on the worst of days.

"Uh. Yeah. Me too," she replied quietly, and Serah just laughed.

* * *

_II._

Vanille was watching her best friend jitter about in her seat while simultaneously watching her phone, and she already knew it had something to do with Lightning. Like, well, most things involving Fang these days.

"Why'd you never tell me you liked Real Housewives?" she decided to ask Fang in hopes of distracting the girl. "You know I love the show, you sneaky wolf!"

Fang glanced at her, her face thoughtful. "I'm not really sure," she replied with a smile. "I guess it just never came up, me watchin' that awful show. How'd ya find out about that, anyway?" She smirked, showing a bit of sharp, white teeth. "Ooh, from your new _boyfriend_, ah? What was his name—Passion? Desire?"

"Hope, you twit. We're also not dating—he's still thirteen, apparently. And, no, I heard it from Serah, actually," Vanille corrected, grinning. "Who found out from _your_ new girlfriend-thing. So, tell me, are _you_ _two_ dating or do you just taste-test tongue blood as good-friends-that-met-a-month-ago?"

"I see what you _really_ wanna know, you witch," Fang teased, crossing her arms under her chest. "While I'd never know why Light would eva' tell Serah about the Real Housewives or our tongue-to-tongue blood test, I won't get on her about it. And, we don't believe in labels for our relationship—we just like each other, _a lot_, and we're actin' on that like." She smiled widely. "Sometimes we act _physically_ on that like."

"Mmm, gay werewolf to vampire sex," Vanille deadpanned. "Tell me more."

The werewolf snickered. "Ah, you'd never understand the mechanics," she replied offhandedly, and Vanille was instantly confused. What did she mean by mechanics? When girls got down and dirty, wasn't it supposed to be super simple and satisfying? How _did_ they get down and dirty, actually—why was she actively thinking about the supposed mechanics of lesbian monster sex? _Weird_.

Before the witch could reprimand her best friend for that hilarious if not very weird image in her mind, Fang's cell phone ringtone of some awful indie song rang loudly in the room.

"_But it was not your life, but mine—and it was your soul caught on the line—_" the werewolf picked it up immediately. "'Ello, _howl_ are you?" Fang greeted with that awful pun, and she quickly turned on the speaker function, turning to Vanille with a large grin and a wink. Lightning's voice, atypically low and sensuous, was garbled a bit by the phone transmission.

"_Fang, what the hell is this?_" the vampire immediately demanded, and Fang covered her mouth to hold back her snickers. Vanille was immediately suspicious—when the Pulsian werewolf was this excited about anything, it was never safe. "_Fang? Are you there?_"

"Yeah, I'm here," Fang spoke, physically fighting back her chuckles. "What's the problem, sunshine?"

"_The problem is that your mail is getting sent to my house,_" Lightning responded. "_And we live over thirty miles from each other in different cities. That's forty-five minutes by car, Fang, let alone the over an hour and a half trip by train._"

The werewolf smirked, leaning back in her desk chair as her vampire-friend-with-benefits-love-thing ranted at her in more words than Vanille had ever heard her say in one sitting. "I know how long it takes to get from me t' you, sunshine," Fang replied loftily, which only made Lightning more verbally agitated. "I _'ave_ been makin' the trip a lot more often these days."

"_If you know, then why is your mail sitting here on my desk?_" Lightning growled. Fang shivered at the sound, and Vanille sort of didn't want to know why.

"I dunno, Light," Fang said, her smirk growing. "Guess it was just a small mishap with the region mail. But, since it's already there—how about ya open it and tell me what it says, yeah?" Her eyes glinted with amusement. "Unless you already opened it?"

"…" _Bingo_, Vanille thought at the subsequent silence from the phone. Man, Fang was too good at this sort of thing. "_I apologize—I thought it was mine at first until I read 'To Miss Yun,_' _and then I found out otherwise. But, wait, if you wanted me to read this, then_—_" _the vampire let out a sharp breath, and Fang's smile softened a bit._ "—then, you're going to Palamecia University._"

"Should we start packin' now, or later?" Fang replied, and Lightning let out a shocked laugh at this quite unexpected turn of events. Vanille beamed at her best friend, reaching across the space between the bed and the desk to wrap the werewolf in a very touchy hug.

"I'm so excited for you! Ahh!" the witch squealed, and Fang returned her hug tightly. "Oh, you stupid wolf—why'd you never tell anyone!"

"_I'm in agreement with Vanille_," Lightning's voice still sounded from the phone, but this time she sounded a lot softer and less murderous-vampire-who-hates-receiving-accidental-mail. "_I thought it was odd when you asked me what school I was going to, but when you didn't tell me I assumed it was for something dumb and left it._"

Fang pouted, and Vanille found herself chuckling in the tanned girl's shoulders. "You 'ave _no_ faith in me, sweetheart," she bemoaned dramatically. "Me, your outer school rival! Your personal football buddy! Your favorite Gran Pulsian werewolf! The love of your life!"

"_Love of my life is pushing it,_" Lightning replied. "_I still have hundreds of years left to experience. I could dump you tomorrow and still live a fully satisfying vampire lifetime of blood and gore._"

"But you won't," Fang said confidently, and one could hear Lightning's eye-roll even over the cell phone.

"_I won't_," Lightning conceded, and the cacophonous sound of a miniature explosion crackled through the phone. Fang immediately tensed, Vanille still basically in her lap. "_What the fu—! Villiers?! What the satanic entity Etro are you doing in my room—how did you even get into my house! Get away from me!_"

"_Light—dude, bro, guess what!_" Snow's excited baritone was loud through the speaker, to which Fang and Vanille listened intently to discover why the large zombie was crashing about in Lightning's room. "_Light, guess! You need to guess or I'll tell you!_"

Lightning sucked in a very agitated breath. "_I'm guessing that you are satisfied with the life you've lived so far,_" she replied slowly. "_Because you decided that now was a great time to end it all—via me._"

"_Nope!_" Snow said jovially, popping the 'P' with a jaunty lilt. "_I got into Palamecia on a partial rugby scholarship—we're going to college together!_"

Fang whistled. "Yikes," she laughed. "Guess we've got a full house, mates." Vanille thought of it more as a full house of blood to clean up after Snow's separate body parts were found scattered through Cocoon, but whatever. This was still so exciting!

"_I'll call you later Fang,"_ Lightning replied, sounding like she was restraining every urge to kill in her body. "_At the very least, to yell at you for this mail trick. Actually, before I go—are you coming to my graduation? It's in two months._"

"Only if you're comin' to mine," the werewolf crooned, and Vanille fake gagged. "It's about the same time, actually."

"_Then I guess that's a yes,"_ her vampire-girlfriend-thing-whatever said, and there was a loud pained cry from Snow as well as the sound of crashing before the line went dead. Vanille sent her wishes to the Villiers family.

Fang placed the phone on her desk and turned back to the witch, grinning.

"So," she started. "Wanna watch shitty reality television with me?"

* * *

"I'm gonna cry," Serah announced, and held her face in her hands as tears pooled at the corners of her eyes.

Her father looked alarmed at best from the side of his wife, but her mom just rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around her youngest daughter. To Serah's other side, a teenage werewolf was throwing popcorn in the air and trying to catch them in her mouth while her witch friend froze the pieces in midair.

"It's okay," Vanille commented with a smile. "I got like this last week with Fang, and you saw me bawlin' like a baby! You can cry, Serah. Nobody will care."

Serah would've replied if it weren't for the uncontrollable sobs spilling from her lips, and her dad only got even more panicked.

"Sh-shouldn't we comfort her?" he asked his wife, worrying his bottom lip with a long white fang.

Her mom scoffed. "She's been warning us for a month that she was going to cry at Claire's graduation," she muttered. "And now, her wish came true. Are you done yet, Serah?"

"No," Serah sobbed. Vanille wrapped an arm around the pink-haired vampire, and the younger teenager turned to cry into her friend's shoulder.

"Earhad, John," the principal announced on stage, and a thin, willowy elf gracefully stepped up to receive his diploma. Serah wiped her eyes, sniffling a little as the elf bowed and returned to his seat.

She let out a small exhale. "Glad I got that out the way," she said jovially, stretching her arms. "I didn't want to miss Claire getting her diploma because of all the tears in my eyes. Man, I can't believe my super socially awkward older sister is going away to college. I should cry some more, just as a caution." It was always good to get the crying out of the way when you were an emotional fifteen-year-old girl like Serah Farron.

Fang barked in laughter, and the audience members around them winced at the grating sound. "That's a good strategy, Tiny Lightning," she replied, popping more popcorn into her mouth. She chewed them slowly, likely mindful of the kernels getting stuck in her razor sharp teeth, and swallowed. "But, wait—are they gonna call her Claire, or will she get the diploma as Lightning?"

"Claire's her real name," Serah's mother scoffed. "Of course she'll accept it as it is."

Her dad looked like he was seconds away from rolling his blue eyes for once. "That girl is stubborn as a Minotaur," he countered. "She's been insisting on being called Lightning since her freshman year—_I_ think she'll accept it as Lightning, personally."

"You always did encourage this rebellious behavior," her mom hissed, her fangs lengthening in a threat, and her dad's short pink hair began to stand up as energy whirled between them.

"She's a teenager," her dad retorted. "What was a supposed to do—'No, Claire, you can't have a nickname, now stop playing soccer and go wear a dress'?"

"That would've been a nice start, _yes_," her mom grumbled, her teeth returning to normal vampire length. "Also, it's called _football_, not soccer."

Fang and Vanille were watching Serah's super embarrassing parents with riveted attention, the werewolf practically stuffing her mouth with the popcorn. "I've got ten on her being called Lightnin'," she threw in, and Serah flashed a glare at the tanned teenager. "What? It's totally gonna happen!"

Serah's parents looked at each other, frowning.

"Ten on Claire," her mom snapped.

"Then I'm with, uh," her dad paused, glancing at Fang. "What was your name again, I'm sorry?"

The werewolf smirked. "Fang Yun, at your service," she replied, and Serah's dad nodded.

"I'm with Fang on this one," he concluded. "Ten on Lightning."

"Guys, shut up," Serah bemoaned. "Claire's up next! Oh my god, Claire's next, guys!" Her sister is graduating high school—why would they be distracted by something as stupid as Claire versus Lightning _right now_?

The principal, an archdemon from the city of Eden itself, stood tall and imposing as he read the diploma of the next Bodhum Prep graduate. "Farron, Cl—" and his words caught in his throat. He grabbed at the column of flesh, his alarmed cries soundless. He turned around to scold whoever the perpetrator was, and then went still the moment he made eye-contact. The audience was silent in anticipation, and the archdemon's eyes filmed over in a milky grey as he turned back to the diploma. "_Lightning_. Farron, Lightning."

Lightning's eyes drained from a glowing red to the usual intense icy blue hue, and she stood up to receive her diploma respectfully. "Thank you," her cold voice echoed in the silent auditorium.

A piece of popcorn dropped from Fang's limp fingers. "That was _badass_," she whispered, awed.

Serah, on the other hand, could only shake her head at her older sister's antics. This is why she said the older girl was socially awkward—she was so set on being called 'Lightning' that she was willing to use mind control on her school principal instead of just making a formal request before the graduation.

There was some scattered clapping from the audience, and of course Fang Yun had to stand up and give enough applause to satisfy a full opera.

"_YeeeaAAh!_" she whooped, clapping hard. "_You're the best, Light! _Graduation, _whoo!_"

Vanille scrambled to grab the werewolf by the shoulders and she pulled her down with a nervous smile for the other curious audience members. "Sorry," she apologized, and Serah was glad she did. "Last night was the full moon. She's still a little—loopy."

"Ooh," someone from the side whistled in understanding, and everyone returned their attention to the graduation.

Everyone except Serah's father, that is.

"I'm sorry, Fang?" he started, a light eyebrow raised in question. "Where do you know Claire from, again?"

Fang turned to them, wrestling Vanille's hand from her mouth. "Eh?" she hummed, eyes wide. "Oh, we're just football buddies and good friends." She smirked, and Serah feared Fang would begin to describe the more illicit side of her relationship with her sister in vivid detail if she wasn't stopped.

Luckily, Vanille is an angel. Well, _no_, she's a witch, but if angels existed in either of their two towns outside of the fallen ones, then it would probably be as sensible and swift with shooting out a spell that sealed Fang's mouth as the red-haired girl. Fang mumbled in displeasure, but Vanille smiled at Serah's dad who still looked a little suspicious but for the most part appeased.

Serah covered her face again, but she wasn't crying this time. "Why am I surrounded by such embarrassing people," she whispered. It really wasn't fair—everyone had embarrassing parents, but when your sister's werewolf-girlfriend-thing-whatever was also a huge dork, then being fifteen and around normal people was nearly unbearable.

Eventually, after another forty minutes of Fang's incessant trolling after the spell wore off and Vanille pointing out the cuter boys on stage while completely bypassing Snow—which made no sense because Snow was definitely the best looking guy in the graduating class—the graduation came to a close.

Fang stood up, stretching her long limbs as her tongue lolled out of her mouth like the canine she was. "Ah, that was a great bore," she said jovially. "Except for Light, obviously. Man, can all vampires do mind control or is that some special shite?"

"Mostly special, but Claire never uses it unless the need is really serious," Serah replied, sighing. She stood up, shouldering her purse and turning to her parents impatiently. "Come on, guys! Let's go see Claire!"

"All right!" Fang agreed, and the group shuffled awkwardly out of their row of seats. Serah looked around through the crowd of monsters to find her older sister but she was mostly unsuccessful.

"Ugh," she groaned as an ogre family shuffled about in front of her. Why was everyone else a solid two feet taller than her? "Where's a pair of stilts when you need them?"

"Why would you need stilts?" Lightning asked, and Serah cursed. She wasn't completely surprised because her sister did this sort of showing-off-her-speed teleportation shenanigan at least once a week, but it was always irksome how it managed to catch her off guard every other time.

Vanille whistled. "That speed of yours is amazing!" she complimented sincerely.

Lightning nodded in response, her face as serious as ever even when she donned her black graduation gown and cap. Serah personally thought she looked like she was asked to suck a lemon and spray the juice into her own eyes, but her sister never reacted well to that sort of commentary.

Her parents hugged Lightning and congratulated her jovially while their older daughter accepted the praise with her usual straight face. Her blue eyes caught Fang's amused green ones, and there was a small, almost lost twitch of her lips.

"I heard you, from up there," Lightning said, rolling her eyes. "One day you're going to get tired of proving me right."

"You wish!" Fang scoffed, her hands on her hips. "When've I ever proved you right, outside've when it turned out I _was_ allergic to wyvern meat." She looked a little embarrassed at that fact, and Serah found herself horribly curious of what led up to _that_ realization.

"Remember when I said that werewolves were always obnoxious?" Lightning replied with a real smile, and Fang's eyes widened in surprise. "Thanks for validating my statement—like always."

Fang laughed, delighted. "Well, I'd _hate_ t' disappoint you, love," she said, stepping closer to the vampire. Their shoulders touched, with the two girls looking as comfortable together as two girls could be, even with their startlingly different personalities and apparently awful first meeting. Serah made eye contact with Vanille, and they shared a bright smile. They were so cute it had to be against some stupid law in some other realm.

Serah's mom rustled in her purse for a few moments before making a sound of success. "Let's get pictures!" she said brightly, holding up her old digital camera.

Serah, Lightning, and their dad all groaned and tried to get away from her subtly, but the vampire matriarch was steadfast in her views. "Why do you guys always do this every time I want to take pictures?" she demanded. Her family just continued to move away from her and that damn camera, and she bared her lengthening fangs threateningly.

Fang frowned. "Oi, what's the big deal?" she asked. "I, for one, would_ love_ a pic!" She wrapped a tanned arm around Lightning's shoulders and dragged her close, the vampire unable to fight against the werewolf's strength. Fang hugged Lightning close and grinned at Serah's mom brightly. "Missus Farron—camera us up, milady!"

Serah sent an alarmed look at her sister, who seemed just as distressed as she did as her mom smiled in delight and held the camera up to her eye.

"You're a dear, Fang," she said, and with a flash the picture was captured.

Fang released Lightning and rushed over to look over the older vampire's shoulder at the camera screen. "I've never gotten a pic with Light! She would never pose for my phone's camera," she said, excited. Serah felt truly bad for the disenchantment the older girl was about to feel.

Her imminent disappointment was not disappointing. "O-oi," Fang stammered. "Where the hell is Lightning? I look like I'm huggin' the invisible man! What the hell, mate?"

Serah's mom clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. "Hmm, this one didn't work either," she muttered.

"It never does," Serah's dad groaned. "We go through this every time—we don't show up in pictures from that awful machine."

"Not unless they're taken with a seriously digital camera," Serah explained to the Pulsian girls, who looked too shocked about this entire thing. "Like, no mirrors involved whatsoever." She sighed. "Mom keeps forgetting to bring that camera and wants to use this old school thing and she is surprised _every time_."

"It's very frequent," Lightning agreed.

Fang nodded, her face still caught in an alarmed expression from the picture incident. "That's got to be a real doozy," she said with a frown, and Lightning smacked her forehead.

"Hey, Light, dude!" a loud voice called from inside the crowd, and Snow barreled through the monsters to reach their group with a wide grin. "We _did it_! Graduation Squad—high five!" He held up his right hand expectantly, his blue eyes bright with joy.

Serah was so in love with him it was nearly ridiculous.

Lightning stared at the zombie. "Where's your other arm?" she asked slowly.

Snow looked over at his left arm—or lack thereof. "I dapped a bro from rugby and it sort of fell off. My dad is holding it for me now," he admitted, lowering his hand. He looked back up with another quirky smile, holding out his fist to Fang. "Fang! My dude, glad you could make it!"

Fang sent him a weak bump of the fists, smirking. "Wouldn't miss it," she replied, nudging Lightning with a wink.

The large blond teenager laughed loudly. "Duh, of course," he said. "Wouldn't to miss out on your giRR—" he gasped in pain as Serah's elbow dug into his gut. "—RRiiisssly. Your, uh, _grisly_ hiking partner's acceptance into the next stage of the hunt."

The werewolf stared at him, nearly disgusted. "You could've done so much better," she said about his truly awful cover-up.

Snow sighed. "I know," he whispered.

Serah pat his stomach in apology. "Don't worry," she said kindly. "You guys will be able to talk this out and more in a couple of months when you all go on a road trip to Palamecia together!"

Lightning looked like she was going to be sick while Fang barked in grating, loud laughter.

"Throw me into the sun," Serah heard her sister say, and she was sure everything was going to be great!

* * *

_III. _

"All right," Fang muttered to herself, standing in front of a large stone door. "Just gonna do this little thing and I'm clear."

The eighteen-year-old werewolf had spent most of her summer before leaving for university marking some items off her bucket list.

She went to the Mah'habara Subterra for a weekend and wrestled orcs for no reason other than to fight. Then, she transformed during the full moon on Vanille's lawn and purposefully knocked down every single lawn ornament the Dia family owned, and claimed it was a wild poltergeist the next day. She ate a cooked burger and hated it. Then, she drank a blood milkshake courtesy of Lightning. She could tolerate the milkshake, at least.

Now, she had one more thing to do on her list before she could happily relax for the rest of the week until she left for Valhalla.

"Knock knock!" she said as she knocked on the door to a certain former teammate of hers. "Open up, it's th' police, mate! Arooooo!" Wait, damn, that wasn't a police siren sound. "Uh, I mean, weee-ooooh!"

The door creaked open, and Caius Ballad stood on the other side with the weariest look a gargoyle could have at 12 o'clock in the night. He must've just woken up.

"Fang," he greeted tiredly. "I thought I'd never have to speak to you again after graduation."

"Fuck you," Fang replied with a smile. "I'm tryna do a nice thing real quick, mate."

Caius narrowed his purple eyes. "I don't know how I feel about that," he muttered.

Fang's smile was strained as she held out a hand to the douchebag. "Caius Ballad," she started, baring her teeth awkwardly. "Over the past years, you've been really annoyin' and you were the constant piss in my ghoul-aid that was football. An', why are you so weird? Neither you nor your ghoul friend make any sort'a facial expression to my knowledge. Can we also talk about your hair? Like, mate, I fuck a girl with pink hair, but even I think purple hair is ridiculous." She struggled to taper down the many more insulting truths she had for him. "But, you're a great player, and I want to say that as former captain of the Taejin High Deathgazers—I wish you the best of luck next year, mate."

Caius stared at her.

He stared at her for a solid minute, mouth slightly open and eyes still narrowed. Fang was starting to feel a little awkward about this whole thing, and was wondering why she added 'Be Nice to a Huge Fucking Asswad' to her bucket list anyway.

"You're unbelievable," he finally spoke after that long, agonizing silence.

Fang blinked. "Huh?" she said, ever the epitome of intelligence.

"You are entirely unbelievable," Caius repeated, schooling his face to its usual blank expression. "I'd _thought_ you weren't paying attention at the end of the year football meeting, but Yeul in her ridiculous affection for you said to '_give you a chance_' and that '_maybe you were paying attention_.' But I knew it—the entire time, you were concentrated on your phone, likely texting one of your many female victims. I'm going to _Tachas_ you awful excuse of a living monster; I graduated the same time as _you_."

"Whoa, Ballad," Fang furrowed her eyebrows, affronted. "Firstly, I only have _one_ female victim ya dick, an' I wasn't textin' anyone durin' that meetin'! Second, how the hell was I to know you were goin' to Tachas? I never cared where you were goin' in the first place. Third, if you're jealous that your crush has a crush on me, then I'm gonna laugh at you while I sext your girl, mate." She wouldn't actually do that, kind of because it was a mean thing to do but mostly because she'd have to discuss it with Lightning first and the uptight vampire would most likely not approve of it. The things she did for that girl, yeesh.

Caius bared his teeth, breaking expression just to show his building anger. "You wouldn't dare," he growled lowly. "Because I will destroy your very existence if you did."

"What's Yeul's number, again?" Fang wondered aloud, pulling out her phone. Looking back at the gargoyle with a smirk, she was pleased to see him gripping his doorframe with pale, trembling hands. "Ah, two-four-nine—"

"Why don't you check your phone for the text evidence that you were an unworthy captain instead of taunting me?" Caius hissed, stepping back into his house and slamming the door closed.

Fang cocked her head in disappointment. She was hoping he would want a fight so she'd have a reason for finally punch him in the face, but alas. Some dreams don't come true.

However, she did look down at her phone with a frown to go through her text history with Lightning in hopes of going back to Caius' place and proving him wrong by shoving him to the bottom of the valley between Gran Pulse and Cocoon.

"It was, ah, what? A month and a half ago? Maybe two?" Fang grumbled, sifting through her texts as she walked through the neighborhood of Paddra to get back to Oerba. She found the date of the soccer meeting, and slowly came to a stop as she re-read the majority of the texts she'd sent over that date.

2:29am _im in the mid of this ftbl meetin an its borin as shit :E  
_3:06am _I'm sure it is. Has your coach decided the captain for the next season already since you're hopefully graduating?_  
3:08am _ur so funny ha ha ha hopfuly graduatin hell yea im graduatin  
_3:09am _idk wat their talkin abot either. im 2 distracted. i thnk its somethin abot caius_  
3:09am _maybe hes gonna be next captain LOL_  
3:15am _Isn't he our age?_  
3:16am _And, what could possibly be distracting you in the middle of a football meeting?_  
3:17am _lite im only sayin this so u will kno but i couldnt give 2 shits about caius or anything abot him. he could be 5 yrs old or a time travellr and id never kno  
_3:18am _n wat else could be distractin me but u? ;) :-*_  
3:33am _You are ridiculous._

Well no wonder she didn't remember anything that was discussed during that football meeting. She really _was_ texting one of her female victims.

"Hmm," she hummed. "This is awkward."

* * *

Snow could not remember a night where he was nearly as excited as he was tonight, sitting in the backseat of a rented van with the coolest girl from his high school and just another cool girl that was ironically the girlfriend of the coolest girl from Snow's school and also from Pulse, which was just a cool thing by itself. The back of the van was packed with their things for their new life at Palamecia University, and he was so wired with excitement.

"Guys, this is going to be fucking awesome," he insisted, pumping his fist in the air. "We're all going to _college_ together. This is a new stage in our lives, and we need to take it by the reins, man! We're gonna have the best time!"

"Every word you speak is like being painstakingly dipped into an acid vat and then locked in a coffin lines with wooden stakes," Lightning said, almost casually, and Snow faltered. "I promised Serah that I wouldn't rip off your head and throw it out the window on the way to the school, but it's only fair that you do your part and stop speaking to me."

The blond teenager closed his mouth, almost pouting. Lightning wasn't as mean as she used to be, but that didn't mean they were best friends yet. But, soon—soon Lightning will accept Snow into her heart, but until that day comes, he was just going to turn his attention elsewhere. He turned towards the driver of the van, Fang, who was oddly both the only member of their trio with a license outside of to kill and a surprisingly cautious teenage driver.

"Are you excited, Fang?" he asked, and Lightning flashed him a sharp glare.

Fang laughed, her eyes focused on the road. "Ya don't even know, Snow," she replied. "I never thought I'd even get in to a university, bein' from Gran Pulse an' all. Now, I'll be able t' take whateva' classes I bloody want and I get to see my good mate Light over here every day. We'll finally be able to play on'na football team together, which I'm very happy about. As well, it's only an hour and a half from Gran Pulse, so I can go home whenever, really."

"Why wouldn't you get into a university?" Lightning asked, frowning. "You're obnoxious and playful and lazy at times, but you seem perfectly intelligent."

"The only schools after high school that Gran Pulse offers are community colleges," Fang explained, with the two Cocoonian teenagers listening attentively. "Which, eh, aren't in a very good light, if you're familiar with the many things that go about at Yachas Community. An', Taejin had a great football team when yours truly was grand captain, but outside'o that, it wasn't that great of'fa school. They don't really inspire ya to _go_ anywhere but other places in Gran Pulse, an' I love Gran Pulse like I love the moon, but I wanted somethin' a little more challengin'. An', most all Cocoon colleges don't accept Pulsian students for some clearly racist reason."

"But what about Academia University?" Snow pointed out. "That's in Pulse—sort of." Academia University was a school located on the cusp of Pulse at the very edge of the valley and was closest to the capital city of Cocoon—Eden.

"Academia is certainly not part of any Gran Pulse I'm willin' to acknowledge," Fang scoffed, switching lanes to speed past some sedan full of trolls. "That school is as Cocoonian as Cocoon gets, mate—an' I think we all know that I'm not fond o' Cocoon outside'a you guys and Serah."

Lightning seemed contemplative. "There aren't very many university options," she admitted quietly. "But, still—Palamecia has a pretty high Cocoon monster population. It's not as bad as Academia, but you still might get flack there, as well, if what you say is true."

"I can take a little shit from some brown-nosin' sprites an' lower demons," the werewolf laughed it off, and the chatter inside the car fell silent. Snow watched as Fang continued to smile ahead despite the reality that she may, in fact, experience problems at a school she'd wanted to go to for a while. He felt for her, and decided at that moment that he'll beat the living shit out of anyone who tried to mess with Fang Yun.

Lightning touched Fang's shoulder lightly, and said, "We'll take care of anyone who gives you a hard time."

Fang glanced at her, smirking. "I think I can survive without the help of a skinny vampire and a zombie that shatters t' pieces with a good look," she replied jokingly.

The 'skinny' vampire shoved the shoulder she'd just gently touched. "Who'd you think the 'we' was," she said. "Me and Mr. Fifteen-Second-Rugby-Survivor back there? Me and my even skinnier vampire sister? Me and your skinniest witch friend?"

"It was like thirty seconds," Snow countered, grinning. "And, I dunno man, I think Vanille could really take someone down for the count. She knows magic like I know how to punch things really hard—which means, very well."

"She's feisty, I'll tell ya now!" Fang agreed. "That girl'll make you wish you'd never passed through your mum's vag' if you ever pissed her off. She knows this one spell that'll make ya smack yourself in the face until she laughs. Luckily she's easily amused." The tanned girl touched her face in a distant memory, her smile slipping.

Snow, in his amusement and good vibes from the conversation they'd been having so far, didn't even think before asking his next question casually. "So, uh, you and Vanille," he started. "Were you ever a thing?"

Fang's smile completely dropped, and Lightning froze.

The werewolf looked at him with wide green eyes through the rearview mirror, gaping. "Where the dark lord Anima did that come from?" she demanded, which was the wrong thing to say because Lightning's eyes narrowed into thin blue slits and she stared at her intensely.

Snow realized his mistake in asking the question, but it was way too late now, "I mean, you two seem super…_into_ one another?" he tried to explain, which only made everything worse if Lightning's crossed arms and Fang's panicked expression meant anything. "As friends, I mean! You seem really into each other as _friends_."

"Now I know why Light wants to destroy you," Fang whispered, but Snow pretended he didn't hear anything. "I mean, yeah, we're sort of touchy mates—"

"Sort of?" Lightning repeated.

"Sort of!" the werewolf insisted. "We're not nearly as huggy as we could be, you might've noticed! Yeah, okay, I had a bit o' a crush on her when I was in fifth grade, but that was the end of it! We're like sisters, mate, and Vanille is apparently into cradle robbin'. And, I dunno if you noticed, _Snow_, but I've been with the girl next to me for a good four months now." She flashed a bright smile at Lightning, who looked a little less suspicious. Maybe.

"How does that work, by the way?" Snow asked, unable to stop the spill of awkward questions.

Lightning turned to Snow, glaring coldly. "How does _what_ work?" she asked stiffly.

Snow scratched his hairy chin, grinning. "Girls bein' together, I guess," he replied. "Like, how do you go about doin' _things_ when you're together? Which one of you is the guy in the relationship?"

Fang and Lightning shared an equally blank look, which Snow didn't understand.

"The _guy_ in our relationship…" the dark-haired girl started, and paused dramatically, "…is _you_."

Snow gasped, blue eyes wide. "What?!"

"She's kidding, I'd rather rip out my heart and throw it into a pit of lava than actively be in a relationship with you," Lightning reassured Snow quickly.

"Oh, thank satanic overlord Etro." He honestly thought for one moment that he was the missing link in their homosexual chain. "But, that still doesn't answer my question! Which of you is, uh, the _dude_?"

Fang clicked her teeth together in amusement, giving him an open mouthed smirk. "That sorta defeats the point, don't it?" she replied. "One'a us bein' the '_dude_' of the relationship. I don't have a dick, Light definitely doesn't have a dick unless I'm lookin' wrong, so I think neither of us is considered a _dude_ here, mate." Lightning smacked the back of her head so fast Snow almost missed it, and Fang yipped in pain.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I don't mean like an _actual_ dude—"

"Nah, I know what ya meant, but it doesn't apply to us," Fang said sternly. "I initially liked Lightning because she's gorgeous and a girl, and she liked me because I'm overwhelmingly hot and a much better footballer and she just can't resist a better footballer than her. Now, I like her because I just like Lightning, and she likes me because I'm the most lovable werewolf in Gran Pulse."

"I don't like her," Lightning said to Snow in a near whisper, and Fang yelped in offense. "Well. Maybe she's alright."

"That's more like it," Fang huffed.

Snow was silent for a while, mulling over this new information. It really made him think about the way he interacted with them in the future, and he hoped to be less awkward with his questions another day.

But, until that day came—

"So," he started. "Who do you think would win in a fight between Hope and Serah?"

* * *

_IV._

Lebreau was enjoying her first month of her first year of college for two very simple reasons.

One, she was having so much sex that it was getting difficult to keep count. This already made college a wonderland for a Cocoonian succubus like herself, especially since Cocoon wasn't very open to the lifestyle of demons like her.

Two, her roommate was fucking _awesome_.

People always told her, "Lebreau, you've got so much personality, you should probably tone it down" to which she usually told them to fuck off or if they wanted to fuck. It varied.

But, her roommate had personality _plus_. Fang Yun was a wild-haired Pulsian werewolf that wanted to major in Melee Weapon Design (how fucking cool was _that_), had the greatest accent the succubus had ever been graced to hear, was into lesser known indie bands, and loved soccer. She had this wicked tattoo of a tribal beast on her left arm that curved into her toned musculature, and a burn mark on the other arm that just looked badass as hell.

Fang was also as gay as she was gorgeous, with a vampire girlfriend that was actually so hot that Lebreau's usual steadfast sexual appetite towards guys faltered, and she almost propositioned one of the two girls. Luckily, she came back to her senses while riding some cambion classmate's dick.

"She's not my girlfriend," Fang had insisted once when Lebreau brought up Lightning (which was also a cool name if not kind of weird—she must have made it up herself) in passing.

That was total bullshit, Lebreau thought constantly from the third week of school onwards when Lightning first showed up in their room in the middle of the morning, rubbing her temples while donning simple pajamas of a tank top and exercise shorts. Apparently if a vampire is invited into a room once, they never need permission to get through the door again. That was almost a bit worrying, but whatever.

"Move over," she'd said to the lounging werewolf in the bed across from Lebreau, and Fang smirked before scooting over in her bed and letting the vampire slide in next to her with crossed arms. Most of the time they would just lay there for like an hour, whispering to each other, watching television on Hexflix with one of their laptops, and sometimes Fang would laugh her weird barking laugh that was kind of annoying, but then they'd go to sleep.

It was…sweet, Lebreau guessed. Actually, it was really cute—until it got explicit.

Through them, the succubus met Snow after an awkward sexile at three in the morning, where the huge zombie was standing outside Lebreau's door, waiting for his two female friends to join him for lunch. She explained that they were making out very heavily with fewer clothes on than they started and Lightning was probably going to get her lunch from the hickey she was planting on Fang's shoulder, but she'd be totally willing to go to lunch with him instead.

Snow accepted easily, and Lebreau found him infallibly adorable. She tried to sleep with him once, and he got super passionate about how he was waiting for his high school crush and how he was staying true to her, and then he showed her pictures of Serah on his phone that nobody could see because Serah is a vampire and apparently Lightning's little sister.

She was sure the girl was cute regardless, especially if her sister was _that_ attractive.

It also turned out that Lightning, much like her not-girlfriend-but-whatever, was very into soccer.

Which leads to the second month of her college life, also known as the beginning of the Gay Monster Rivalry Soccer Drama. It's a working title.

"Lightning, hey!" Lebreau yelled at the pink-haired girl in greeting, catching sight of the vampire on one of the many walkways leading to different class buildings while she was on her way to lunch. Lightning paused to look at Lebreau with a respectful nod, but eventually returned to her conversation with a tall, fairly built silver-haired guy who looked at least twenty. He had a nice face set in a very stiff expression, but the bang-to-ponytail ratio of his hair was seriously off. However, Lebreau was certain this guy was a dhampir, which made Lightning's intense talk with him that much weirder. Dhampires usually made no secret of how much they hated the bloodier side of their heritage, and vampires really didn't give them the time of day either way.

The succubus slowed her walk as she headed towards Lightning, curious about their conversation. It was starting to come to an end, if the handshake and fairly amicable nods were any indication, and by the time Lebreau reached hearing distance the dhampir was shouldering his bookbag. "It was nice meeting you, Farron," he said in a crisp, regal tone that screamed Upper Cocoonian, and he nodded at Lebreau as he walked away.

Lebreau smiled at him, but the moment he was far enough she gagged, turning back to the vampire with a grimace. "Who was that guy?" she asked, hands on her hips.

Lightning stared after the dhampir with a blank expression. "Yaag Rosch," she replied. "A third-year Political Terrorism Studies student. One of the captains of the Palamecia Demonspawns."

"Demonspawns?" Lebreau made a face. What kind of gross team name was that? "Is that like, soccer, or something?"

"Football, yeah," Lightning said. "There are tryouts for the team in two weeks. I needed more information of what to expect."

"That makes sense," the succubus hummed. "Was he a dhampir, by the way? I was getting this huge slime ball alert from him and I can't understand why you'd spend time talking to that kinda guy, really."

The vampire lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "He was a dhampir, yes," she replied. "But I don't particularly care for anyone, so there is no reason I should treat him any different."

Lightning was so cute when she tried to deny she had friends. "Well, he's a weirdo," Lebreau huffed. "Watch out for that dude, for sure, Light."

The pink-haired girl smirked a little, an eyebrow hiked in curiosity. "Should I come to you if a guy does anything to cause me harm?" she asked sarcastically.

Lebreau laughed, slapping the girl's hard shoulder playfully. She was surprised Lightning didn't break her hand, and counted it in her victories. "Light, you know I'm a licensed sharpshooter and carry a gun at all times, right?" She lifted up her shirt to show her .45 sub-compact semi-automatic glock nestled against her pale hip between the skin and her denim skinny jeans. "Why do you think I fuck so many guys?"

"Because it's in your genetic makeup?" Lightning replied blandly.

She had a point. "Yes, but _also_ to keep my energy up!" the succubus winked. "I feed off the sexual appetite of dudes like you feed off the blood of the vulnerable, and I've got enough buildup to go celibate for a week."

"That's…graphic," the vampire replied slowly. "But interesting to know."

"Isn't it?" Lebreau agreed. She gestured towards the cafeteria and Lightning nodded, and they set off in a walk towards the building. "So, are you going to tell Fang about tryouts?"

"I already did," Lightning said, waving her Scry-Phone where a couple of texts from 'FANG ;E' blinked on the screen. "She's pretty excited for it."

Lebreau grinned. "She's super into soccer," she said laughingly. "I once asked her if she wanted to go to a basketball game and she was like 'Is tha' football? Nah? Then I'll be alr'roiut.'"

"She sounds a little like that, if you were on an acid trip," Lightning deadpanned, but the succubus was sure the other girl was at least a little amused. Hopefully. Man, it would be really awkward if it turned out the vampire hated her this entire time. "And I know how into football she is. We met at the championship game between our two high schools."

"Really?" Lebreau blinked, opening the door for the cafeteria and walking in. She held it by the tip of her finger for Lightning, and they flashed their cards before heading for the food. "Is that when you both got together? Or, oh man, did you guys fall in love and then fight your affection to face off in the midst of the game? That sounds so sweet!"

Lightning cocked an eyebrow. "She was extremely obnoxious," she replied. "And flirtatious. And she didn't take things seriously. I couldn't stand her." She reached into a cooler full of blood packs and pulled out an A type with a critical look. "Now that I think about it, she's still almost exactly the same—I must have gotten very used to her."

_Or you got used to getting fucked and her personality grew on you eventually while you were moaning her name,_ Lebreau thought completely inappropriately. It was very hard for her to differentiate sexual thoughts and contemplative thoughts, especially when she knew what Lightning looked like naked and in her not-girlfriend's bed. Maybe they've actually not had sex yet. _Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha please!_

"What did Fang think?" she asked instead of laughing out loud at _that_ ridiculous notion. Those two monsters were not innocent to the needs of their bodies. "Did she have a better opinion of you when you first met?"

"She told me she thought I was a bitch at first," Lightning said blandly, and Lebreau winced. "A lot of people think I'm a bitch, so it wasn't anything new. I don't really care."

"Yikes," the black-haired girl whistled, grabbing a burger and some fries to put on a tray. "That's one rocky start. So, when _did_ you guys get together? And why?"

Lightning was being very nice with this whole 'answering questions about her gay love life' thing. "We ran into each other at the movie theatre in Hanging Edge," she answered. They sat at a table by a window, the moon high in the sky outside them. "And decided to see a movie together. She asked for my phone number, I gave it to her, we continued to meet up, and that was it." Well, the vampire didn't elaborate on much, but it was nice to just sit and talk to the serious girl about this kind of stuff. "I also admired her football form during the championship. And, even though my team won—she called me, uh. Whatever. That doesn't matter."

"What did she call you?" Lebreau asked, deathly intrigued in this whirlwind romance.

"It doesn't matter," Lightning bit out, narrowing her eyes. The other girl raised her hands in surrender, smiling awkwardly. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Lebreau picked up her burger and took a small bite, chewing quickly and swallowing before she asked her next question.

"So, what position do you play in soccer?" she asked, hoping it was a safer subject than whatever Fang told Lightning at that time.

"Center forward," Lightning replied, and punctured through the plastic blood pack with her long fangs. "Sometimes central defense, if I need to."

Lebreau had no idea what either of those things were. "What do you do as central forward?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Honestly I thought everyone just ran around kicking balls and looking hot, I was kind of joking when I asked what position you played. I don't know what anything is in soccer but a goalie."

"The _center_ forward—not central—is known as the striker and the most important player in a game," the vampire said with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You're usually the team's leading goal scorer, and should be the most dangerous player up front in a game. The striker runs the most on average."

"Sounds cool," the succubus hummed, nodding. "Then, what does Fang do in soccer?"

Lightning paused in sucking the blood from the pack. "Center forward," she replied.

"So…you both are central forwards?" Lebreau tried to understand. Lightning nodded stiffly. "And…you both are trying out for the same soccer team?"

"Yes."

"Can there _be_ two centric forwards on the same team?"

Lightning paused. "…Not as starters," she said after a moment.

"Then, what position are _you_ going for?"

"Center forward."

Lebreau cocked her head in confusion, but for the most part decided to not comment on the obvious fallacy in this event.

_Does Fang know her girlfriend-thingamajig is going for the same position as her on the soccer team?_ She thought while eating her burger. _Pro'lly not._

This was definitely going to blow up in an awkward way. She sensed a lack of sexiles in the next two weeks. She had mixed feelings about that.

* * *

_V._

"Ah?" the bronze-skin werewolf clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, a soccer ball planted firmly under her right foot as she crossed her arms. She was dressed sparsely in a black tank top and blue athletic shorts with soccer cleats. "You're tryna tell me that you're goin' for _striker_? When you _know_ I'm a striker?"

Her associate, a pale, pink-haired vampire with an expression cold enough to freeze a waterfall, stood strong with her hands on her hips. She wore a white v-neck with red shorts as well as similar cleats. "I've always played center forward," she replied, her voice a low, attractive sound that belied her agitation. "It's not sensible to assume that I'd go for any other position when trying out for the team."

"So, what, _I_ should?" the werewolf demanded, her brow furrowed in a rising anger. "You think _I've_ played any other positions outside o' striker? Light, I was _captain_ of my football team—captain and starter center forward because _I was ratha' good at it_, mate!"

"You can adapt," 'Light' retorted. "We've played against each other many times, and you play a defensive role much better than you do forward."

"And clearly you're the better midfielder, here," the dark-haired girl snapped. "In fact, why don't you just go for goalie? So you can just stand there and look pretty—it's a skill you've got by the cards, mate."

"I have no idea if that was a compliment or insult," the vampire replied calmly.

The werewolf paused. "A bit of both," she said honestly.

"Thank you." 'Light' nodded in acceptance. Her face returned to its previous serious expression. "However, it's still stupid to think I'll go for any position than center forward. You should have thought about this before you decided to try out."

The werewolf, offended like something awful, began growling as her claws lengthened from her fingertips.

That was clearly the wrong thing to say. Yikes.

Yuj wished he had a box of popcorn or something for while he watched these two girls argue over soccer positions in a park near the college campus. It was very entertaining for the incubus, especially since he was a first year Undead Fashion Design student with a minor in Psychology and a normal guy who liked watching girls duke it out.

_Take off your shirt,_ the blue-haired teen thought with a smile, crossing his legs. _Either of you, it really doesn't matter at this point._

"I thought about it for a long fuckin' time, Lightning," the werewolf replied, trying to control her rising tone. "I just didn't think that my bloody _friend_ would try to fuck me over at the last moment before I could even _try_."

"Nobody's telling you to not try, Fang!" Lightning exploded, jabbing a finger into the slightly taller girl's clavicle. "But, I'm not sacrificing this opportunity for something you'd never give up for me. Me, your _friend_, remember?" She spat out the word 'friend' like it was a nasty taste in her mouth. Yuj was beginning to feel less entertained and more actually worried.

"Nobody wants to sacrifice anythin', but even then you know bloody well how much this means t' me, Lightning," the werewolf snarled, flexing her spread, clawed fingers. "I came to this damn school to play football, an' I will _damn_ well play football in the position that _I_ am well bloody qualified to play!"

"'Well bloody qualified,'" Lightning repeated, and she put her hands up to do the air quote gesture with her fingers. Yuj whistled—thems fightin' fingers right there, homie. "That's rich coming from someone who lost the championship game in their last year of high school. How long did it take you to get to that point, anyway, Fang? Two years? Three? Nice qualifications, in that case."

"I dunno, _Claire_, how long did it take you to realize you weren't shite without that shitty vamp speed o' yers? Why'd ya wait until _your_ junior year to start, anyway—did ya try out and not get in because of 'ow _mediocre_ you were?"

Lightning (or Claire) froze. "You don't know _anything_ about me," she hissed, her muscles tense in the arms.

"You wanna know what I do know, then?" Fang replied, her green eyes bright with anger and—Yuj frowned at this—despair. Her next words spilled from her angry lips in a poisonous staccato of punctuated sounds. "I know that you care more about bloody _football_ than people that care for ya. I know that you can be a real uncaring _bitch_."

Lightning sucked in a quick breath of air, her arms going limp for one second of weakness. "I'm sorry you feel that way," she said, almost quiet. She crossed her arms, her hands flat against her biceps as though she were protecting herself from the cold in this on this autumn night.

Fang opened her mouth, her skin almost paling. "Lightning—"

"Fuck off," Lightning cut her off, and started walking away from the werewolf with an angrily pinched face. Yuj, personally, thought she looked like she was going to cry, but he didn't know her that well to tell.

Fang stood on the grassy ground for minutes after her vampire friend(?) had left her.

"Fuck!" she yelled, kicking the ball in rage. The soccer ball sped through the air and slammed into a tree, forcefully embedding itself in the wood.

Yuj winced. He would _not_ want to be on the receiving end of that kick.

The werewolf paced the grass, her hands threaded in her wild, dark brown hair. "I fucked up," she kept muttering, her voice cracking after the first few times. "I can't believe I'm such'a _fuck up_."

The incubus felt awful about this. "Uh, hey!" he called out, standing up and waving at the girl. The werewolf paused, looking at him with an equally frustrated and confused expression. "Hey, um, are you okay?"

"Don' act like you didn't see any o' that," Fang scoffed, stretching her shoulders until her bones cracked. "What the hell do _you_ want?"

Yuj felt even worse now that he knew they'd seen him. "Um, I'm Yuj," he introduced himself, holding out his hand with a small smile.

Fang looked at his hand suspiciously. "Fang Yun," she replied blandly, shaking his pale hand. "Now, what the hell do you want, _Yuj_?"

"I have some friends in Nova Hall that are throwing a party," Yuj said. "And, uh, I wondered if you wanted to check it out?"

"I jus' majorly pissed off my bloody _girlfr—_my_, _my _friend_," Fang hissed. "An' you wanna _hit on me_?"

"No!" the blue-haired man yelped. While she was very attractive in a wild, Pulsian sort of way, he was _not_ about that life when it came to slighted vampire lovers. "You look like you're miserable after that argument-thing! Your friend, uh, Lightning? She left so fast, and I feel like a dick for just sitting there. I just, I dunno, wanted to help."

Fang's narrowed green eyes lost a bit of their suspicion. "Will there be drinks?" she asked. When Yuj nodded exuberantly, she tilted her head up with a weak smirk. "Then, I'm in."

* * *

"She's knocked the fuck out," Yuj explained to the succubus named Lebreau who was also apparently Fang's roommate. They struggled to drag the unconscious werewolf into her bed, where her dead weight was way more than someone with such a fit body should've been. "She must've had like thirteen jello shots before she was even tipsy. She went through three beer funnels after that. Then she started hitting on some harpy girl and smoked a whole joint completely from shotgunning three gorgon chicks. She got into a fight with a daitya, and somehow won. She wrestled the guy in charge of music until he played 'Lifeless Little Human' by Munsters and Son, and then she sat on the couch and cried while checking her cell before she passed out and I used her phone to call you."

Lebreau whistled. "You must be in love with her after that, man," she replied.

Yuj nodded. "She was glorious," he affirmed. He frowned at the blacked out werewolf, whose face was marred with a few bruises and dried tear tracks under her eyes. "But none of that helped her problems at all."

"I saw Lightning earlier at like seven in the morning," Lebreau said, sitting on her bed and crossing her legs. Yuj couldn't deny he found her intriguingly attractive, but he had no idea how they would work out as an incubus and a succubus on a sexual level. "You know—the pink vampire this one was probably with. She looked like she was ready to kill something. Would it have anything to do with why Fang's currently in a drunken coma right now?"

"They got in some sort of fight," Yuj explained. "About soccer positions. Neither of them wanted to give up the chance to be striker forward or something, but then it got really personal really fast and Fang called Lightning an uncaring bitch."

The succubus winced. "Yeesh, these two," she grumbled, rubbing her temples. "I knew this whole football thing would blow up in their faces. I'm telling you—what was your name, again?"

"Yuj," Yuj supplied.

"I'm telling you, Yuj, they have some issues to work out," Lebreau stated. She gestured towards her desk vaguely. "You can sit, if you want."

"Thanks," he said, plopping down on the wooden desk chair.

"Like, I don't get it, but they refuse to call each other anything more than a friend," she continued, frowning. "It's weird—they're obviously together. Like, I mean, _obviously_. I was hanging out with Snow once—he's their dude friend from Lightning's high school—and his friends asked if his lesbian friends were open to threesomes with dudes. He got really angry after that and punched the guy in the face, but I mean, it's just so obvious they're into each other."

"Maybe they aren't comfortable with that kind of commitment?" Yuj tried. He had no idea what he was supposed to say—he basically just met Fang less than five hours ago before getting swept into the werewolf's wild world.

"They sleep in bed together after watching Real Housewives of Palumpolom on Hexflix," Lebreau deadpanned. "Fang gives Lightning kisses before either of them go to class for the day, and she doesn't harass anyone without asking the vamp first. From what I know of my roommate—she seems _pretty_ committed to this bloodsucking chick."

Yuj shrugged. "Well, they've never had a fight like this before, I know that much," he said, gesturing towards the werewolf. "If she dealt with it that awfully, I don't even know how the vampire chick went through with this."

"Yeah," Lebreau hummed. "They don't really talk about their problems. Maybe that's the problem."

"Maybe."

There was a short silence in the room, with the only sound being garbled snores from the sleeping lycan.

"Do you want to go out some time?" Yuj asked after a moment.

"Dude, totally," Lebreau replied with a grin.

The incubus beamed, standing up. "Awesome, cool," he said. "Then, I'm gonna go back to my dorm—it's gonna be like the afternoon soon and I need to catch some sleep." He reached over and petted Fang on the bicep, and she whimpered. "I'll be back in the morning to check on her. I feel pretty responsible about this."

"You let her get shitfaced drunk and cry at a dorm party," Lebreau pointed out with a smirk. "You created a human over here. I'd be a bit suspicious if you _weren't_ responsible."

Yuj laughed at that and took his leave. He bumped into a large blond fellow on the way to his dorm, the guy looking panicked and holding his hilariously small phone in his huge hand to his ear as he wandered down the pathway barefoot in his pajamas of boxers and a t-shirt. "—she might be in her dorm, Serah!" he was stammering into the phone, and Yuj watched him go curiously before continuing into his building and getting to his room for a well deserved sleep after his unexpectedly exciting day.

And, when he woke up in the middle of the evening to go back to the girls' dorm to get the hungover wolf to the cafeteria, he was somewhat unsurprised to see Lightning standing outside Fang and Lebreau's door like it pained her to be there.

She was alerted to his presence nearly instantly, and her blue eyes snapped to his person with a small frown. "It's you," she stated.

"It's…me?" Yuj asked slowly, a blue eyebrow cocked in question.

"You were watching us during our fight," Lightning explained, looking so unimpressed that Yuj felt a sort of shame overcome him.

"I…I was," he admitted.

Lightning continued to glare at him, and he wondered how such a hot girl could have such an unwaveringly mean face. It had to be a gift from Etro the dark goddess herself.

"Is Fang here?" she asked coldly.

Yuj nodded. "I brought her back after she passed out this morning," he assured, but then his blood chilled when he realized what he said. "_Shit_."

"Where did she go last night?" Lightning demanded, her eyes like daggers to his soul.

_Fuck, fuck, fuuuccckkk_, Yuj thought, and he sent a prayer to the satanic entities in his life before opening his mouth and blurting, "I took her to a party because I felt bad for watching you guys fight."

"You took Fang to a party?" the pink-haired girl repeated, her arms crossed. That seemed to be her default pose for when she was feeling pissed, Yuj noted. "…Did she get drunk?"

"…" Yuj sighed. "Completely wasted."

"I could easily kill you and dump your dried corpse into the valley," Lightning said casually, and she opened the door to enter the room. Yuj followed her, pale and appropriately scared, and immediately the room was a full house.

"Light!" the huge zombie from earlier this morning greeted loudly. He scrambled to his feet and opened his arms for a hug, and the vampire gave him such a blank look that Yuj could physically feel the zombie's energy draining from his person. "Okay, maybe no hugs today, but it's great to see you, man!"

"Are you here because of Serah?" Lightning asked, and the zombie nodded.

"She said you were worried about Fang after your lady fight," the tall teenager explained, twisting his head around to crack his neck. His head instead just rotated a solid 180 degrees, and he cursed as he grabbed it to force it back into place. "And, Vanille was freaking about because Fang drunk-dialed her crying about you. So, I came here just after Fang got back, and decided to stay to make sure she was all right."

Lebreau rolled her eyes. "He slept on the floor and snored like a behemoth," she muttered.

The zombie caught sight of Yuj with wide blue eyes. "Oh, man, you must be the incubus guy who brought Fang back!" he said with a large, quirky smile. "Good lookin' out, dude. I'm Snow Villiers." He held out his fist.

Yuj bumped it with his own, finding the large zombie inexplicably likeable. "Yuj," he replied. He tried to look over to the side of Snow, but only caught the back of Lightning's pink-haired head. "Is, uh, Fang awake yet?"

"'ve been awake," was the weak answer from the bed, and everyone turned to glance at the bundle of blankets that was Fang's bed. "An' I gotta hangover bad enough to convert me to human religion. Stop talkin', please, guys."

Lightning scoffed, and the bundle moved a little.

Fang's head poked out from the blankets, with wild bed head, healing bruises, and bags under her eyes. Yuj thought she looked very good for the night she had, really. "Light?" she whispered, and the vampire looked down at her with a very disappointed expression.

"We need to talk," Lightning said, and everyone in the room got a little scared. "You are all ridiculous—no, we're not breaking up. You can keep breathing."

The room was lighter immediately. Yuj knew these people for less than twenty-four hours but he already had such stock and hopes in their relationship. It wasn't quite how he imagined his first friendships in college going, but it was pretty nice.

"We'll take our leave," Lebreau said with a smirk, and got out of bed in nothing but her panties. Yuj eyed her bare chest with approval, and he left the room behind the succubus with Snow at his heels. As soon as they closed the door behind themselves, Yuj and Lebreau immediately plastered their ears to the wooden barrier.

"You guys are gonna spy?" Snow said with a laugh. "Nice."

"Shhh!" Lebreau shushed, holding a finger to her pink lips. "They're about to work out their issues, man!"

From within the room, there was some minor shuffling, and the sound of a hand smacking muscle.

"Oi!" Fang's accented voice yelped. "Not gonna say I don' deserve it, but dark Anima mate I'm hungover as all hell, Light!"

"Which has what to do with me?" Lightning replied blandly. "Nothing, is the answer, by the way."

"I'm sure." There was a long silence between the two girls for a couple of minutes. Sometimes someone's foot would tap against the ground, or the mattress would creak under Fang's weight when she moved, but they didn't talk for a long time.

"I was scared," Lightning said quietly, breaking the quiet in the room. "But I never acknowledged it. You're an excellent football player, more than qualified for any position you wanted. You really can adapt, much better than me. I tried to deny it, but that didn't work."

"Light—"

"I was—glad. Glad that you came to Palamecia with me. I was looking forward to playing on the same team as you. The game we played against each other in high school was the best game I'd ever competed in, and I wanted that with you. I just." Her speech was hesitant in a way that was uncomfortable to hear. She seemed so confident and cold outside this door, Yuj thought. Now, she was a vulnerable as any of them. "I didn't want to feel like I was less of a player than you by taking another position—"

The mattress creaked loudly, which meant Fang was probably sitting up now. "Light, love, I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I'm _so, so_ sorry. I didn't mean any'o that, las' night. There's a reason you won that game at the Edge—because you're a great player, mate. I'm not as fast as you, Light, and I'm not much'a strategist, so I don't have much to offer as a center forward when you really look at it. Lightnin', I'm stubborn as fuck, and I ain't pleased with myself at all for the way I was actin'. There's a bit too much pride between us, I think."

Lightning sighed, and Fang's mattress groaned once more so she likely sat next to her not-girlfriend-thing-okay-sure on the bed. "This is stupid," she said, and Fang laughed a little.

"I don't think you're a bitch at all," Fang said, her voice barely hearable.

"It doesn't bother me," Lightning replied, which was a huge lie if Yuj had ever heard one.

"Now _that's_ a large fib, sunshine," the werewolf jibbed, chuckling. "You're perfect, Light. I'm just a stupid pup sometimes, but that's the end of it. Yikes, maybe this is a little stupid."

"You're surprisingly bad at talking about things," Lightning said in a tone that might've been joking, but it was hard to tell.

"Yeah, an' you're the master, o' course," Fang retorted. She cleared her throat a bit. "So, uh, we're still cool, right, mate?"

Lightning hummed. "I'll wait until you've sobered up to answer that," she answered with a smirk in her voice. The werewolf whined a long "awwww" and Lightning continued, "Tryouts are in three days, Yun, and you look like you were caught in a fight with a daitya."

There was an eerie silence in the room, and Yuj gulped. He was so dead.

"You didn't."

"I was so drunk, Light; I don't even know how I did it."

"I'm killing the incubus." Yuj whimpered, and Snow pat his shoulder reassuringly.

"Who, Yuj? Oh man, what a bloke that kid was—I say let 'im live!" _Thank you, kind wolf._

"Whatever." The door opened, and the three eavesdroppers were caught under Lightning's hard stare. How the ever breathing fuck did she do that without making any noise? "Enjoying yourselves?"

Lebreau stood up, clearing her throat. "I left my bra," she said, pointing at her perky breasts.

"I came to help her find her bra," Yuj added, pointing at her boobs as well.

Snow pointed at him. "I was helping him help her," he said, and Lightning rolled her eyes like she was living some long-suffering existence.

"You're all idiots," she replied, and left the door open as she walked back into the room. The trio followed her in, where the vampire went to sit at the foot of Fang's bed and the werewolf waved at them jauntily.

"You are the worst eavesdroppers," she said with a sharp-toothed smile.

Lebreau shifted through her dresser on her side of the room and pulled out a black bra with a sound of victory. "Maybe," she replied, maneuvering the bra over her breasts while Snow pointedly looked away. Yuj didn't get why he did—this show was great! "So, are the waters still wavy in paradise, or are we chill now?"

Fang and Lightning looked at each other, and the vampire raised a pink eyebrow in curiosity.

"We're pretty good," Fang said, smirking. "I foresee no more troubles on _our_ love boat."

There was a collective groan, but everyone was happy that this drama was over with. Yuj hoped nothing else happened to them for the rest of the semester, because this was just a lot of stuff to deal with while juggling classes and parties and sex.

He eyed Lebreau—especially sex.

"We should go to breakfast," Yuj suggested. "To celebrate the end of this drama. Yay."

* * *

_VI._

Lightning, even after the whole Fang-fight-and-finding-out-the-werewolf-was-missing-but-actually-getting-wasted thing, was focused on doing her best at soccer tryouts a few nights after the incident.

Her cleats dug into the grass as Rosch dribbled the football between his feet in several long strides. He prepared to pass the ball to the apparent "co-captain" of the Palamecia Demonspawn, a winged harpy called Jihl Nabaat, and once the ball was tearing across the grass to the blonde woman, Lightning flew forward.

She appeared in a flash between the two captains and caught the ball with the side of her shoe. With the goal about sixty meters away from her, she strategized how much distance she could cover before Rosch caught up with her. She predicted a good twenty or twenty-two yards before the dhampir's exceptional speed worked to his advantage. Then again—she _was_ going easy on them.

"Take 'em out! You're doin' great, Light!" her personal cheering squad of Snow and Yuj shouted, with Lebreau talking up one of the other prospective players with a sultry smile, and she shook her head with a little amusement. "You can make it!"

Lightning kicked the ball forward with a strong push and set off in a light-foot run after it. From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Rosch and Nabaat pacing themselves to either side of her, and she smirked. The dhampir and harpy were clearly about to intercept her at the goal itself, for which a doubled-up defense like that would be nothing but trouble for Lightning. So, that meant she needed to get them away from the goal. An easy feat.

Catching the ball under her right foot, the vampire came to a sudden halt and pivoted on the grass immediately. "Your turn," she said, and slid the ball atop her foot. She kicked it in the air to about hip level before rearing her leg back and kicking it forward in a striking kick that sent the ball powering through the air down the field opposite her goal. Rosch and Nabaat shared a look of confusion before taking off in a run after the flying ball.

The ball slammed into a firm stomach with great momentum, and there wasn't a single indication that might've been painful.

"Thank Anima," Fang whistled, catching the ball on top of her cleat and kicking it in the air jauntily. "I was crampin' up at th' goal." Her green eyes glittered with amusement, and her upper lip curled to show her dangerous teeth.

The werewolf let the ball hit the grass and kicked it towards the two captains. Nabaat readied herself for what she clearly thought was going to be an easy steal, and Lightning felt a little bad for what was about to happen.

Fang barreled at the harpy, and, in a surprising move, slid backwards as she kicked the ball under the blonde woman's legs. Nabaat squawked as the werewolf jumped back up behind her, and kicked the ball to Lightning in a forward pass that was easily accepted now that there were no interceding players. The vampire leaned back and readied her right leg, and then she kicked the ball into the goal, the football sinking into the net with a soft whoosh of air.

The spectators of other football prospects and students from around Palamecia all cheered and screamed their excitement at the result of the ten minute two-on-two game for a simple tryout.

Fang trotted up to stand next to Lightning, a large grin on her face. "Did we kill it?" she asked, holding out her palm.

Lightning smirked. "What do you think?" she replied, slapping the palm in a high five. She could sense Snow's rising confusion on how she could give anyone but him a high five, and decided to continue ignoring the lummox for the time being.

Nabaat did not look happy in any capacity as she and Rosch walked towards them from the middle of the field. The dhampir's face was blank, but his co-captain seemed irritated enough for the both of them.

"A good game," she said in a very Upper Cocoonian way of speaking. Lightning stared at her, and Fang moved close enough to her for their arms to touch. "Despite the…child's play, so to speak."

"You are impressively fast," Rosch complimented Lightning with a nod. He turned to Fang, "And your strength is exceptional. Excellent defensive tactics when you were minding the goal and you adapt well to an offensive role." He looked between the two with a small smile. "Very good team work, as well. We would love to accept you both into the team—"

"Except," Nabaat interrupted smoothly. "We're only accepting one. You." She pointed at Lightning, who cocked an eyebrow but made no further movement. Fang tensed, her brow furrowed and she opened her mouth to argue, but the vampire touched her arm to calm her down.

"Why?" Lightning asked. "You just said that Fang did a great job and that she'd be a great addition."

Rosch looked appropriately demure, and he cleared his throat. "We mean no disrespect by this, Fang," he started, and the werewolf started a low growl in the back of her throat. "But…letting you on our team would be…"

Nabaat was clearly not one to mince words. "Trashy," she said with a smile. Lightning frowned. "I understand that you and this…lycan are good friends, possibly more, and you haven't seen how interacting with Pulsians reflects upon you to others, but—"

"_Gran_ Pulsian," Lightning corrected.

The harpy blinked. "Excuse me?"

"How interacting with _Gran_ Pulsians reflects upon me, you mean," the vampire deadpanned. "I've learned that it's disrespectful to call someone from Gran Pulse anything else."

"Okay, _Gran _Pulsian," Nabaat rolled her hazel eyes. "This does not take away from the fact that having a werewolf from _Gran_ Pulse would make our team look trashy."

"She means to say," Rosch spoke up, looking as regretful as a dhampir could pull off. "In terms of appearance, while Fang is an excellent player and would be a great addition to the team…it would not reflect positively upon Palamecia to allow a _Gran_ Pulsian werewolf to play as a starting position in our games against other Cocoonian schools."

"This school is a bloody fourth Gran Pulsian in terms'a demographics," Fang pointed out, barely containing her anger. "So what's the big deal with lettin' _one_ on yer shite team?"

Nabaat clicked her tongue in disdain, smirking maliciously. "_That's_ the problem, Yun," she said a falsely apologetic tone. "Pulsians have no class—they're the lower rungs of society, and you all _know_ it. Our team represents Palamecia University, darling, and we can't afford a black stain on our current clean state."

"Jihl…" Rosch groaned. He returned his attention to the werewolf. "We're, we're deeply sorry Fang."

Fang swallowed back her overwhelming rage, and narrowed her green eyes. "If you were never going to let me on the team," she bit out, her teeth clenched. "Why'd you even let me try out?"

The silver-haired captain pulled an uncomfortable face. "I thought…I thought we should at least give you a try," he admitted.

"We didn't think you'd actually have any skill," Nabaat followed up, chuckling. Lightning clenched her fists angrily. "I told Yaag that we shouldn't let you try, that it would _only_ break your little canine heart, but Yaag _insisted_. So, now, here we are." She gestured towards the small group, smiling widely. "We _really_ are sorry, Fang."

Fang spat on the ground at her feet. "You people are awful," she hissed, and stalk away with tense shoulders.

Lightning stood there for a short moment, looking between the two captains with cold, blue eyes. "I won't be joining you," she said, and turned away to follow Fang.

"Don't be dramatic," Nabaat scoffed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her straight nose. "You'd be an excellent addition to the team. You shouldn't let your odd relationship with the Pulsian mutt affect your college career, Farron."

The vampire paused, turning back to look at the harpy. "She's my friend," she said. "And I don't want to play for a team that holds pride over skill. If you'll be fine without Fang, then you'll do fine without me. See you around." She walked away from the two captains, hearing Rosch begin to argue with Nabaat over their decision. She didn't think he was a bad person, but he definitely had his ideals in the wrong place.

Fang was currently wrapped up in a large hug from Villiers, the zombie grumbling about how he was going to beat the shit out of the two captains. The werewolf looked like she was trying to not kill him, but on a serious level. Lightning was slightly worried.

Yuj turned to her, his green eyes alight with anger. "Dude, that was so unfair," he raged. "You guys _wrecked_ them on the field—how can they not let Fang in? Because she's got a better accent than all of us combined?"

Lebreau shook her head. "This team sucks anyway," she said with a shrug. "Let's go hit up a party."

Lightning didn't think 'hitting up a party' would help any of their problems, and Fang did not need to get super drunk again after _that_ disappointment of a tryout.

There was a light touch on her shoulder, and the pink-haired girl froze. She turned around to make eye contact with a somewhat muscular torso, and looked up to find light green eyes looking down at her kindly.

"Cid Raines," he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Lightning shook it despite her confusion, and immediately deduced he was a reaper from his inky black hair and frosty white skin—and a pretty powerful one at that, with his freezing touch. He flashed a straight toothed smile. "I saw your game—you and your, uh, friend."

"Okay?" Lightning replied cautiously.

"I know this may seem weird," Raines continued. "But I was very impressed with your game. You two—you two would be a great addition for me, and my team."

"What?" Fang asked, squinting at the black-haired man. "What th' hell're you talkin' about?"

"I'm a senior here," Rained explained. "And I'm trying to make a team to play in the minor college leagues—like, against schools everywhere instead of just Cocoon. I need a few more players before I can appeal to the school's board, but if you would be willing to give me a try, I would really appreciate having you on the team."

Fang shared a look with Lightning, her eyes wide. "What kind'a schools are we talkin' about competin' against, here?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, if we are approved before the spring season starts," the tall reaper said with a smile. "One of the first matches would likely be against Tachas Community in Paddra."

"Oh fuck yes," Fang gasped. "I'll do it."

Lightning rolled her eyes. Fang really needed to leave that gargoyle Caius kid alone before he exploded in stone. "We'll keep in contact," she told him with a nod, and Raines nodded exuberantly.

"Here, I'll leave my number with you two," Raines said, and looked around. "Does anyone have a pen?"

"I'll take it down!" Lebreau exclaimed, holding out her phone. While the reaper added his number to her contacts, Lebreau ignored the tired looks she got from her friends at her obvious flirting attempt.

"Hope to hear from you guys," Raines said with a smile and a wave before returning to the crowd to watch the rest of the tryouts.

Fang snatched Lebreau's phone with a mystified expression. "Please tell me we're goin' for this," she begged Lightning.

Lightning's lips quirked in a small smile. "If he can get us a game against the Palamecia Demonspawns," she replied. "Then yeah, I think we're going for this."

Lebreau whooped, high-fiving Yuj. "This is great!" she exclaimed. "Now let's hit up a party in celebration!"

* * *

_EPILOGUE_

"Welcome back!" Vanille yelled at her best friend who sauntered off the train at Hanging Edge with spread arms. The witch threw herself into Fang's hold, squealing in happiness. The other two college students converged on the platform with Serah, who was over the moon with happiness. "Oh my god, you're back from your first four months of college! Oh, you _must_ tell me all about it!"

Fang laughed, holding the red-haired witch close. "What don't you know from our frequent phone convos?" she joked. "And I'm pretty sure me, Light an' Snow came back a good five times, includin' for your birthday."

"You're lame," Vanille huffed. She turned to Lightning, who was flicking her sister's forehead with a tiny smile. "Light, hey, Light! Can I get a hug from _you_? I'd rather spend my time with my arms around someone _cool_."

Fang laughed like this was a huge joke and Snow shook his head sadly, but Vanille was trying to see just how much Lightning had lightened up from her first semester in college.

Lightning grimaced, then sighed, then rubbed her temples, then looked around the large train station in hopes that anyone would make eye contact with her—but alas, Vanille knew she was trapped.

The vampire stepped towards Vanille with heavy footfalls despite being so lithe. She forced her arms open, and the witch gasped in joy before attacking Lightning in a tight hug. "Yes!" she exclaimed, and didn't mind that the pink-haired girl refused to return the hug.

Fang and Snow stared at the two in clear horror, while Serah clapped.

"You did it, Claire," she said to her older sister. "You are no longer horrifically socially awkward. Now you're fairly socially awkward, and I'm proud of you."

Lightning stared at her sister with squinting blue eyes. "You're my personal curse," she said, and Serah just laughed in delight.

Vanille released the older girl, glad she survived that with all of her limbs still intact.

"All _right_!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Let's hit up the theatre, mates! First day of your break, and also the release date of _Devour, Scream, Hate_—the greatest romance movie of our time, they say!"

"Can't we see an action film?" Fang asked with a strained expression.

"No." Vanille skipped behind the tall werewolf and pressed her hands against her best friend's flat back, pushing her towards the mall. "You'll love it Fang, I promise."

Snow was leading the way, holding Serah's much smaller hand in his between them. "So, uh, something explodes in this, right?" he was asking, and his girlfriend just smiled at him.

Lightning walked at Fang's side while the werewolf struggled weakly through Vanille's pushing. "We can ditch," she said to her girlfriend-or-whatever, and Fang gave the vampire a pleased look.

"That's why I love ya," she said laughingly. "You always know what to do at times like these."

Lightning just shrugged enigmatically, making Vanille grin. Oh, these two gay kids were so amusing in such little ways.

"—met these cool people, Yuj and Lebreau," Snow was saying as they stepped into the theatre's lobby. "We're great friends now, and I'm trying to get them to meet up with me and Gadot. They'd love him, I think."

"Nobody loves Gadot," Lightning said blandly, and Snow laughed. Vanille didn't think the vampire was kidding, but she didn't try to correct the zombie.

"We're buying tickets now," Serah announced, and tugged Snow to the ticket booth. Vanille followed them idly, but paused when she heard Fang's quiet voice.

"Ahh, the smell o' popcorn and failure," she said, resting her forearm against Lightning's shoulder and leaning against the other girl. "I'll never quite forget it. Remember when we first met, an' ya hated the fur off'a me?"

"You thought I was a bitch, and wanted to fight me," Lightning pointed out, smirking.

Fang winced. "Oi, you got me!" she bemoaned jokingly, grabbing her heart. "Th' worse mistake o' my life. But, then we met again, in this very theatre!" She waggled her dark eyebrows. "Ya didn't hate me too much when you were on my lap in the back row of that football film with your tongue down my throat. That was the most exciting first date I'd ever had, I'll tell you this much."

"I have no excuse," the vampire replied simply. She turned to Fang with a raised eyebrow. "Why won't you call me your girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Fang said intelligently. Vanille struggled to not roll her eyes.

"I've never been in a relationship before you," Lightning said, her tone factual and concise. "And, I'm pretty sure we're dating. We go out to places, we hang out together, we kiss, and we have sex." Vanille choked at that last one, and walked a bit closer to Snow and Serah to try and give them privacy. Unfortunately (just kidding it was very fortunate) she could still hear the two clearly.

"We…_are_ dating," Fang said slowly, her green eyes wide.

"Then why won't you call me your girlfriend?" Lightning repeated herself question, her arms crossed under her breasts.

Fang blinked, her facial expression totally lost. She then leaned over and pressed her lips to Lightning's cheek, smooching the pale girl loudly. "Because I was waiting until you wanted t' be called my girlfriend, mate!" she said happily. "I felt like you'd break my legs if I insisted you were anything you didn't want to be, an' also that would break my heart, sunshine."

"Well," Lightning hummed, smirking at her _girlfriend_. "I want to be."

Vanille couldn't fight the wide grin that overtook her face. They were the most stubborn, prideful, and oddly soccer-oriented monsters she knew in her life…

…but by the evil grace of dark lord Anima they were perfect for each other.

She was really happy for them.

**END.**

* * *

okay i'm done with this for real now

i loved writing this almost more than i loved writing the first one but its hard 2 tell. this is still my otp 4 life and i hope to get the opportunity to write more in the future.

also a fun fact—since in this monster universe pulse and cocoon are obviously not separate planets but rather two large cities split by a huge valley, i imagine the two to be very middle-lower class and industrial versus upper-mid class and businesses. kind of like crenshaw LA versus 90210 beverly hills

i literally cannot get over how much i enjoyed writing this and introducing more characters. i hope you all enjoyed reading it, and thanks a lot for all ur support! swag

devour, scream, die y'all im outtie

also did you guys know that theoretically the only time you'd be able to get a 19th century photo that didn't require mirrors with a vampire is if you managed to get the vampire to sit outside in the sun for five days while the asphalt film was exposing? great thing we've advanced since then yikes


End file.
